Peninsula readers' letters: October 24

Dear Editor: I am correcting some erroneous statements in an Oct. 23 letter to the editor regarding Pete's Harbor.

The Measure Q referendum in 2004 asked voters if they wished to approve or overturn the Redwood City City Council's rezoning of the area, including Pete's Harbor. The voters decided to overturn the rezoning and return the zoning to its earlier designation, where it remains to this day. The city's role is to ensure that any development there is in compliance with that existing, voter-ratified zoning. The current development proposal for Pete's Harbor does not request or require a change to the voter-ratified zoning.

The city is not involved in private transactions between a seller and a buyer/developer, nor does the city have a role in issues of leases, whether they are month-to-month, as is the case with the majority of them at Pete's Harbor, or long-term.

The city council and the planning commission are having discussions about development proposals for Pete's Harbor (as well as all other developments) in fully-noticed, open public meetings as is required by law, and as the cornerstone of Redwood City's commitment to transparency and community engagement.

Robert B. Bell,

City Manager, Redwood City

McGovern's legacy

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Dear Editor: Last Sunday, we lost former U.S. Sen. George McGovern. Although many will recall his disastrous 1972 loss to Richard Nixon and his subsequent leadership in getting us out of Vietnam, his truly lasting legacy will be his war on hunger and malnutrition.

In 1977, following extensive public hearings, McGovern's Senate Select Committee on Nutrition and Human Needs published Dietary Goals for the United States, a precursor to today's Dietary Guidelines. It marked the first time that a U.S. government document recommended reduced meat consumption.

The meat industry forced the committee to destroy all copies of the report and remove the offending recommendation from a new edition. It then abolished the committee, voted McGovern out of office, and warned government bureaucrats never to challenge meat consumption again. (Food Politics by Marion Nestle, 2007).

Yet, after 35 years of studies linking meat consumption with elevated risk of heart disease, stroke, cancer and other killer diseases, the MyPlate icon, representing USDA's current Dietary Guidelines for Americans, recommends vegetables, fruits and grains, but never mentions meat and shunts dairy off to one side. (www.choosemyplate.gov/).

And it all started with one brave senator from South Dakota.

Peter Anatoli,

Palo Alto

Welcome restraint

Dear Editor: It was with relief to read of the restraint the Israelis showed in the most recent commandeering of a boat, the Estelle, which was trying to bring non-lethal supplies to Gaza. If the Israelis are going to continue their blockade of Gaza, even for shipments of cement, basketballs and musical instruments, I do hope that their new nonviolent policy is going to be the standard. It was interesting to note that Noam Chomsky was aboard the Estelle.